Port Staff Sold 30 Copies Of Controversial Poem

PORT CANAVERAL — Canaveral Port Authority officials sold at least 30 copies of a poem that characterizes recent candidates for port authority seats and an incumbent commissioner as, among other things, prostitutes and drug users.

The 30 copies were bought by six people at different times Monday and early Tuesday, but by 9 a.m. Tuesday port officials had decided to destroy the ''two or three'' copies they had in the office, said Chuck Agostinelli, the authority's public relations representative. The 10-cent charge for the copies was the standard charge for copying public documents in the office.

Agostinelli said the copies were provided because ''anything that comes in here and is placed on a desk is considered public record, and it is safer to hand it out than to be accused of denying the public access to it.''

But Agostinelli said that policy was changed on the advice of port attorneys who said the parody was not received by the authority during the daily course of business.

''We felt the thing shouldn't have been spread any further, but we didn't want to deny the public access,'' Agostinelli said. He said attorneys were consulted Monday but had to ''discuss and think over'' the advisability of making the copies before they gave officials a ruling Tuesday morning.

The poem surfaced last week at a Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce cocktail party attended by about 300 business and civic leaders. Chamber officials have said they had no knowledge of the poem or its distribution although several chamber members have said they saw it being passed around.

Agostinelli said he first saw the poem Thursday when Port Director Charles Rowland asked him if he knew who was responsible for it. Agostinelli said port officials surmised the poem was dropped off at their offices on Wednesday after several people stopped by to congratulate the authority on the re- election of incumbents Malcolm McLouth and Tom Newbern.

Carol Hayes, president of the East Merritt Island Homeowners Association, said she feels the port providing copies to the public has ''added insult to injury.'' Hayes was one of the persons referred to in the poem.

Port Commissioner Jerry Allender said Tuesday that although anything that comes into the port office is public record, ''you've got to use some degree of reasonable discrimination in whether you continue to disseminate it.''

''I'm extremely disappointed and upset with the staff. If this is true I consider it stupid,'' Allender said.

Former port candidate Bill Wenz said he went to the port Tuesday morning to get a copy of the poem, which he had heard made derogatory remarks about him. Wenz said he was told by office workers they had given out their original and could not make more copies.

Wenz said the original circulation of the poem was ''outrageous,'' but to have copies distributed from the port was ''intolerable.''

Dianna Greer, who was narrowly defeated by incumbent McLouth, said she was upset by the poem because ''I only entered the race because of my concern for the environment. I never expected anything like this.''